About five years ago, respected sportswriter Adrian Wojnarowski released a great book entitled “The Miracle of St. Anthony,” which captured the essence of the 2003-04 undefeated championship basketball season at St. Anthony High School.
However, the real miracle might be taking place this season with this current crop of Friars.
“Not a member of the staff, not a single kid on the team could have ever predicted this,” said legendary St. Anthony basketball coach Bob Hurley about his current team, which sports a 22-2 record heading into the NJSIAA state playoffs with a team playing perhaps the best basketball in the entire state.
“The coaching staff really believed that we had a team that would be 16-6 or 14-8,” Hurley said.
Wait a minute. Eight losses? EIGHT? You’d have to search far and wide to find a Friar team that lost eight games in a single season. Maybe eight in a decade, sure. In one year? It’s impossible.
But Hurley’s team did lose five last year, one season after the magical 32-0 team that captured the national title. The Friars were 24-5 last season, so anything is possible. Nah, not really. The Friars simply don’t lose eight games in a year, not as long as Hurley is the one calling the shots.
However, when the preparations were being made for the 2009-2010 season, the Friars looked like a formidable bunch. They had four NCAA Division I prospects in Devon Collier, signed and sealed to Oregon State; Ashton Pankey, all set to head to Maryland; Derrick Williams, locked and loaded on his way to Richmond, and Elijah Carter, who was bound for St. Bonaventure.
In fact, having a team with a 6-foot-9 Pankey, a 6-7 Collier and a 6-7 Williams, Hurley was going to have a different-looking team than Friar powerhouses of the past. This team was going to be centered around centers, powered by big men, not fueled by high-octane guards. This method has become a staple of St. Anthony basketball.
The Friars traditionally spat out guards, especially point guards, like General Motors produces Cadillacs, like Penn State produces linebackers, like Hershey makes Kisses.
This was going to be a Friar team of a different color.
“We thought we had a big team and we put things in over the summer that would feature a big team,” Hurley said. “Ben [assistant coach Ben Gamble] and I went to clinics over the summer that featured working with big men, so we would know what to do with a bigger team. We were going to approach the season featuring our big men.”
But there are always trials and tribulations in the world of high school basketball. Sometimes, things change. There are unseen and unpredicted variables that come into place.
About two weeks before practice was set to begin, Pankey suffered a serious foot injury. At the same time, Collier became academically ineligible. It was not known when or if the two big men were going to return.
It was back to the drawing board for Hurley and his staff. It was time for a complete revamping of the approach.
“We had to change stuff in a hurry,” Hurley said. “I wasn’t sure what kids we were going to use.”
Hurley knew that he still had two constants – namely Williams down low and Carter, who was being moved from point guard to shooting guard. The rest was a complete and utter crapshoot.
At one point in the preseason, Hurley reached an impasse.
“We scrimmaged Don Bosco Prep up in Ramsey and I had to apologize to the college coaches who came to see us,” Hurley said. “I remember sitting with my wife [Chris] having dinner on the way home that night after the scrimmage and wondering who was going to play for us. I really didn’t know at that time.”
Hurley and Gamble worked on developing some sort of a plan, one that featured using every available kid on the roster.
“I don’t know if we’ve had the same starting lineup all season,” Hurley said. “We change the lineup every game.”
But a bunch of role players have emerged, kids like Lucious “Lucky” Jones, Jerome Frink and Jordan Quick, have rallied around the consistent strength of Williams (definitely the Friars’ MVP this season) and Carter, who has had a great stretch of games.
“Ben refers to our team in baseball terms,” Hurley said. “We have a platoon system going with all the different kids. Most of the kids are splitting positions.”
There is another consistent fact about this Friar team – they play typical St. Anthony defense. A few years ago, my former colleague Mike Kinney of the Star-Ledger wrote a great lead to a game story, which stated, “In New Jersey high school basketball, there are three kinds of defenses: zone, man-to-man and St. Anthony.” It was so true.
The Friars held Linden to 20 points two weeks ago. That’s no misprint. Twenty. In an entire game. They also limited Elizabeth to 25. It’s unheard of.
“We’ll do anything or just about anything to try to win games,” Hurley said. “We are classic overachievers. We’re putting more stuff in during this season than we did in any other season. Our margin for error is very slender. We just keep finding ways to win games.”
The Friars have won nine straight games since losing to Westchester of California in the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Massachusetts in mid-January.
As for the big men, Pankey will miss the entire season. Collier has since returned from his academic woes, but has played in only eight games and is also now battling an injury.
The Friars are who they are.
And right now, since St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth has been disqualified from the NJSIAA tournament, the Friars have a good shot of winning another state title. Perhaps the only obstacle in their way in the NJSIAA Non-Public (Parochial) B North is Paterson Catholic, the team that sent the Friars packing a year ago.
“I think our schedule has prepared us for the state tournament,” Hurley said. “We’ve played teams like [St. Peter’s] Prep, DeMatha [of Washington, D.C.], NIA Prep, Oak Ridge [Military Academy of North Carolina] and CBA [Christian Brothers Academy of Lincroft] and won all different kinds of games. We’re finishing the season strong.”
Added Hurley, “It’s been amazing, no question. No one could have predicted this. We just went out, started playing and continued to beat teams. We’re really just finding ways to win games.”
Somehow, someway, the St. Anthony way. It’s now the Friars’ time of year. The state playoffs are here and they appear ready, believe it or not. This could very well be the real “Miracle of St. Anthony.”
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.